American doctors warn of new killer virus

Traveling to the Middle East? US health officials are warning Americans to be on the lookout for a new coronavirus, an acute respiratory infection similar to SARS that has so far infected 14 people and killed eight.

Most of the deadly infections have occurred in the Middle East,
but it only takes one infected American to trigger a nationwide
outbreak. A new analysis of the virus has confirmed that it can
spread through human contact, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.

Worldwide, a total of 14 cases have been documented, with eight
of those resulting in fatalities. The CDC warns that people
traveling to the Arabian Peninsula have the highest possible risk
of transmission. Of the three cases seen in Great Britain, one came
from a 60-year-old old man who had traveled to Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia, while the other two cases came through direct contact with
the first victim. The second person to become infected became ill
on Feb. 6 and died shortly thereafter.

"The routes of transmission to humans of the novel
coronavirus have not yet been fully determined, but the recent UK
experience provides strong evidence of human-to-human transmission
in at least some circumstances,” Professor John Watson, head of
the respiratory diseases department at Britain’s Health Protection
Agency, told Medical News Today.

The CDC is urging everyone who traveled to the Arabian Peninsula
and suffering from respiratory symptoms to immediately get tested
for the novel coronavirus. The health agency also advises US
residents who have been in close contact with such travelers to pay
close attention to any symptoms. The illness usually shows up
within 10 days of infection and brings on a fever, coughing and
shortness of breath. All patients develop pneumonia, and some
suffer from kidney failure.

So far, no travel restrictions to the Arabian Peninsula and
neighboring countries have been implemented.

The SARS virus, a close relative of the new coronavirus, killed
nearly 800 people and infected more than 8,000, most of which
occurred in 2003. Similar to SARS, the new virus is thought to
reside in bats, but it is unclear how humans first became infected.
The latest patient to succumb to the infected died nine days after
being hospitalized in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 10.

The latest coronavirus is not the only American concern: the CDC
recently also warned of a growing number of cases of the
Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), a superbug that is
resistant to all existing antibiotics. Nearly four percent of all
US hospitals and 18 percent of specialized medical facilities have
infected patients with the bacteria in the first half of 2012,
including the National Institutes of Health, the CDC reported.
More than 50 percent of patients whose bloodstream becomes
infected with the bacteria die from the infection.

“We have a very serious problem, and we need to sound an
alarm,” CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Tuesday during a
press conference.

With two CDC warnings in the same week, Americans are being
urged to watch their symptoms closely for two separate illnesses
with high mortality rates.